Always Been Bad
by tider58
Summary: Spike delivers Dawn to Angel for protection. Post The Gift. Spike and Dawn, friendship only! First in a series of ficlets.


**_The Spike and Dawn dynamic is one I wish had been explored further on the show. Just to clarify: This is not "Spawn." Just a harmless little Spike and Dawn friendship ficlet. Please review! I've got more in the works if you like it._**

xxx

"You can't just leave me here. I won't stay. Not with him."

The blond vampire shot a warning look at the girl in the passenger seat. "You will bloody well stay where I tell you to stay. No more of that, now."

Dawn folded her arms in her most stubborn semblance of teenage ire and sank down deeper into the tattered leather. "You can't send me away every time there's the faintest hint of danger. I want to help. How can I learn to take care of myself if no one will ever let me help?"

"When you're around, I'm not much help myself, constantly checking over my shoulder to make sure you're all right. The others do it, too. This—you staying with Angel until we put this big bad to rest—that's what you can do to help. And you can cut out the whining; that's not doing much good either."

"I hate you."

"That's just as well."

"What if he goes all Angelus on me and I end up dead anyway? How would that be for irony?"

"He won't."

"How do you know?"

"A person would have a right hard time achieving perfect happiness with a pissed-off teenager moping about, wouldn't he."

"Well I hope you know my blood is on your hands if he does."

"I'll take my chances."

"You can't make me stay," she repeated. "The second you're gone, what's stopping me from hopping the next bus back to Sunnydale?"

"The knowledge that any such plans will result in a death as slow and painful as any I've ever dreamed up when I get my hands on you. And I've got a good imagination."

She rolled her eyes dramatically. "Don't you think the physical threats are a little played out, Spike? I mean, come on...ooh, I'm so scared of the neutered vampire."

"Watch your mouth, Bit," he snapped. "And maybe you're right, maybe I wouldn't kill you. But I can make your life miserable in countless other ways if you give me cause to. Don't doubt that. Now, Angel may be an unimaginable bastard whom I wouldn't cross the street to piss on, but you will be safe with him; that much I'm sure of. He'd lay down his life to protect you, and I wouldn't leave you with anyone who would do anything but."

She seemed mollified, and when they pulled up in front of the Hyperion, she got out of the car under her own power, which was a good sign. He'd been fully prepared to drag her out kicking and screaming if she forced him to. The Bit was angry, yeah, at being dumped off like a dog to the pound when no one had time to tend it anymore. But it went deeper than that, and he knew it, and he had to pretend it didn't hurt because he was a big bad vampire who should have no soft spot for little girls, especially not a soft spot that infiltrated every fiber of his formerly evil being. Damn her.

He hefted her suitcase out of the trunk and started toward the double doors leading to the hotel cum detective agency's lobby. He didn't have to turn around to know that she was still standing by the car, glaring defiantly at his retreating back. "Let's go, Little Bit. I don't have time for this."

"Then leave, if you're going to. Don't let me stop you."

"I'm not leaving until I have delivered you into Angel's hands personally. Come on." He tried to keep his tone reasonable, but his patience was slipping as he made a distinct effort to pretend he didn't recognize the pain that hid just beneath the fortress of her anger.

She heaved a great, put-upon sigh and followed him up the steps and through the glass doors. She kept her eyes rooted to the floor as two members of the original Scooby gang stepped forward to greet them. Cordelia moved in to hug Dawn, but the younger girl stepped back out of reach, amid an awkward pause.

"I'm so glad to have a fresh face around here," Cordy said smoothly, her smile not faltering. "Finally, someone to shop with. I thought we could hit the malls tomorrow, what do you think?"

Dawn looked up through her eyelashes at her sister's old rival. "Maybe," she muttered. "If I'm still here." She ignored the glare Spike tossed her way.

"It's great to see you, Dawnie," Angel said. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm j-just ecstatic," she said, a sarcastic throwaway that Spike couldn't help thinking wasn't worthy of her. She really could articulate with the best of them, this girl. Angel made her nervous. Score one for the soulless, then, he thought with a smirk. The Bit turns to the evil one for comfort, holds shouting matches without a flinch or a thought to spare of how many ways he could kill her if he'd a mind to, but this "champion" gets her all timid and stammering.

"I guess I don't have to tell you to take good care of her, Peaches?" Spike said, resting a hand on Dawn's shoulder and feeling slightly surprised that in her current mood she let him keep it there.

"Please, Spike, I've been doing this 'taking care of humans' thing a lot longer than you have." At Spike's steady, intense gaze, he added, "I'll guard her with my life, you know that."

"See to it. Hers is worth a billion of yours. More, as far as I'm concerned, and if anything happens to her..."

"Spike." Angel's mild, stony smile didn't fade, but he communicated something with his eyes that Dawn didn't understand but which made Spike back down, easing slowly out of overprotective mode. He finally nodded and turned to look at the girl at his side.

"I've got to get back, Bit," he said. "The others won't get far without my help, and time's short."

Now she shook free of his hand and walked over to the lobby's sitting area, perching on the edge of a small sofa and folding her arms across her chest.

Spike had to draw on every scrap of his love for the girl to contain his sudden surge of anger. Why was she making this hard? Why did he care if she was hurting, if she thought he was abandoning her like everyone she loved always did? He refused to care, he refused to play into her hands; he would just turn and walk out of there and drive back to Sunnydale and fight the fight that awaited and not spare another moment's concern for the little girl with her sister's pout, with the shining blue eyes swimming in tears … tears he had caused— "Fuckall, Niblet, I'll be back for you," he shouted, but they all heard the plea in his voice as it reverberated in the open space. Angel and Cordy silently withdrew to the office behind the former concierge's desk.

"So you say," she muttered. "How do I know that? How do I know you won't end up dead too?" Her voice cracked on the last few words, and she swiped angrily at her eyes, as if the tears offended her sensibilities.

Spike felt the knife in his cold unbeating heart twist a little, and he strode over to sit next to her on the sofa. Taking both her hands in his, he squeezed them and looked intensely into her eyes. "Because I _won't_," he said. "It's going to take more than a few demonic beasties to take me away from you, and you know it. You and me, Bit, we're stuck with each other. It was Buffy's final act of vengeance against me, leaving me in charge of her whiny brat of a kid sister for all eternity. She really knew how to hit where it hurt."

There was a long silence during which Dawn regained control of her emotions, stopped the flow of tears, and looked into Spike's eyes for another stab. "Can't I come back with you?" she asked. "I can't stand the idea of you guys fighting without Buffy and without me to keep an eye on things. I'll be careful, I promise."

Spike shook his head. "It's not going to happen," he said firmly. "We'll manage; we always do."

"You always _did_, when she was alive."

"And just what do you think you could do to help? Not that I'm considering it; I'm just curious."

"I'm the Key … or, I was. We still don't really know what that means, not completely. When I see you fight, I feel this—I don't know—_power_. And I feel like I can keep you safe, just by watching. I know it sounds crazy, but…"

"It's in your head, Niblet. If you had that kind of power, you would have used it when— I don't want you anywhere near danger, not so soon after—" he shook his head, unable to talk about Buffy in relation to that night, still. "Stay here, stay with Angel. He'll keep you safe until I come back for you. And I _will_ come back for you."

She resumed her sulk, and Spike took his cue. "Oi, Liam!" he called. Angel and Cordy appeared again. "I'm out of here. Watch her like a hawk; she's got a tendency to run."

"Thanks a _lot_," Dawn said bitterly.

"Spike, if there's anything I can do to help, I'm just a phone call away. Tell Giles," Angel said.

"No need. We can do this one solo. What kind of crack demon-fighting team needs to call in vampire reinforcements? See you, children." Spike turned and started out of the lobby in a whoosh of black leather. Without warning, he was slammed from behind, arms encircling his waist and hands laced tightly together across his stomach. He had to force the smile from his face before turning around to take Dawn in his arms. He had a reputation to uphold.


End file.
